(Updates prices, adds commentary)
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* Consumer staples is sole sector with gains, energy falls
most
* Indexes down: Dow 0.98%, S&P 0.99%, Nasdaq 1.1%
By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street added to losses on
Tuesday with its three major stock indexes falling 1%, after
officials said the coronavirus was "a rapidly escalating
epidemic," a day after virus worries sent the S&P 500 and the
Dow Industrials to their biggest daily declines in two years.
While U.S. stocks started the session in positive territory,
those gains were erased as investors, focused on the potential
economic impact of the outbreak, noted it had spread to new
countries including Spain. Also on Tuesday, Iran's death toll from the virus rose to
16, the highest outside China, while dozens of countries from
South Korea to Italy accelerated emergency measures.
U.S. stock indexes were on track for a fourth day of losses,
with fears of a pandemic knocking off more than 3% on Monday
after a flare-up of infections in several countries.
As of Monday's close, the S&P 500 .SPX and the Dow Jones
Industrials .DJI had erased their gains for the year-to-date.
"A lot of people who have been woken up by the volatility of
the stock market will start to get a little panicky,” said Tom
Plumb president of Plumb Funds in Madison, Wisconsin.
At 11:11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
fell 275.4 points, or 0.98%, to 27,685.4, the S&P 500 .SPX
lost 31.87 points, or 0.99%, to 3,194.02 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC dropped 101.72 points, or 1.1%, to 9,119.56.
Of the S&P's 11 industry sectors, consumer staples
.SPLRCS , up 0.1%, was the sole gainer while energy .SPNY was
the biggest laggard with a 1.8% dip.
Last week, positive fourth-quarter corporate earnings and
hopes of limited damage from the virus outbreak had pushed Wall
Street to record highs.
While some investors had been betting that support from
central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve would counter any
weakness resulting from the virus, this confidence was starting
to dim due to worries about supply chain disruption.
"The markets are also coming around to this idea that when
it's a problem with the supply side, the central banks are not
equipped to deal with these kind of events," said Seema Shah,
chief investment strategist at Principal Global Investors in
London.
Department store operator Macy's Inc M.N fell 3% despite
reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly same-store
sales. Mastercard Inc MA.N shares fell 3.6% after announcing
Chief Executive Officer Ajay Banga would step down at the start
of the next year and be replaced by products head Michael
Miebach.
HP Inc HPQ.N surged 7%, providing the biggest boost to the
S&P, after saying it would step up efforts to slash costs and
buy back stock, as it sought investor support to defend against
a $35 billion takeover offer from U.S. printer maker Xerox
Holdings Corp XRX.N . Shares of Dow-member Home Depot Inc HD.N also provided a
boost, rising 0.8%, after the home improvement chain beat
quarterly sales and profit estimates. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
3.50-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.44-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 32 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 21 new highs and 97 new lows.